CARE Programming Versatility

I first developed the acronym CARE back in the late 1990’s. The acronym stands for Core, Accessory, Rehab Exercise. I have included elements of this programming into all my programs ever since. In the attached chart, I have a copy of my most recent format, and it is certainly a living document as I discover new and/or improved variations. When I am working with rugby players, I also ensure they realize that this is not a complete set, and if they have additional movements for the categories to please share them and use them as part of the CARE program.

I have used CARE as an entrée, main course, and dessert in various programs. As an entrée, I have used it as a way of ensuring that the injury prevention aspects of the program are worked as a priority and not just as an afterthought tagged on at the end of the workout. I have used the program as a main course, if players are not recovered enough to give 100 percent on the major performance-based movements, also as a change of pace workout, a download week workout, and as a stand-alone program administered with medical staff. Finally, I most frequently program CARE as dessert after a workout, and stress the importance of keying in on specific aspects of each player's injury history and positional requirements.

Versatility of the CARE Program

The other aspect associated with the versatility of the CARE program is that you can integrate it into both full-body and split programs. The top line of the current program is all upper body related categories and the lower line is all lower body movements. When programming with a split program, I ask players to choose three to five categories and select one movement from each. When programming full body, I will ask the players to select three from both lines specific to their needs. As a main course program, I will have the players select 10 to 12 exercises from the categories and have them perform these as either a circuit or as straight sets.

The sets and reps will vary depending on where the program is positioned in the workout, but usually, a player will perform two to three sets of eight to twenty repetitions depending on the specific movement. The movements are performed in a slow, controlled tempo with attention to a 4:1:2:1 tempo. Here is an example of a week plan as a main course change of pace workout.

Main Course Week Plan

Movement/Muscle/Day	Tuesday	Thursday	Saturday
Unilateral Knee and/or Hinge	Landmine Skier’s Squat	Kang Single Leg RFESS	Telemark Squats
Lats/Upper Back	Hammer Row	MAG grip Pulldown	Seated Low Cable Row
Rotator Cuff/Shoulders/Scap	Incline Y, T, I’s	Face Pull with Ext. Rotation	Scap Shrugs
Groin/Hamstring	Lateral Lunge	Copenhagen Planks	Reverse Lunges
Calves	Seated Calf Raise	Prowler® Push on Balls of Feet	Standing Calf Raise
Biceps	EZ Bar Curls	DB Hammer Curls	DB Twist Curls
Core	Hanging Leg Raises	Med Ball Weighted Sit Ups	Rollouts
Knee/Thoracic/Rotational	Peterson Step Up	Cable Wood Chop	Turkish Row

Movements

Neck	Thoracic/Scapular/Traps	Rotator Cuff	Core	Asymetric, Unstable, Iso & Ecc	Unilateral UB Push & Pull	Grip and Elbow Integrity
Banded Look Away	Face Pulls Band Pull Aparts	Incline Y, T, I’sIncline Liatsos	Rollouts	Asymmetric Press variations	One Arm DB Bench Press s/s DB Row	Bottom Up KB HoldTowel/Rope Chins
Neck Plankseries	Quadruped Reach and Rotate (Band)	Cuban Press	Hanging Leg Raises	symmetric Row Variations	Seated DB One Arm Snatch s/s KB Z Press	Thick Bar ChinsPlate Flip
Plate Extension And Flexion	Chinese Back Planks	Banded VictoryRaise	Banded Janda Sit Ups	Earthquake bar Press Variations	Landmine Kroc Rowss/s Javelin Press	Hammer CurlRolling DB Extension
Banded Protraction And Retraction	Powell Raise	Supine 90/90 Overhead Y’s	Pallov Press	Ecc. Bench Press remove plates fast concentric	One Arm Seated Row s/sDB Shoulder Press	EZ Bar CurlClose Grip Bench
Wrestler’s BridgePlank seriesSwiss Ball options	Shrug variations	Bottom Up KB Shoulder Press	Suitcase Deadlifts	Seated DB Snatch with 6” Eccentric Shoulder Press	One Arm PulldownHalf Kneeling Landmine Press	DB Twist CurlDB Tate Press
Groin/Hips	Knee	Hamstring	Asymmetric, Unstable, Iso, and Ecc	UnilateralHinge & Squat	Loaded Carry	Ankle/Foot
Monster Walk	Reverse Nordic	Pull Throughs	Natera Hamstring(Landmine RDL)	Kick Stand Split Stance RDLSprinter’s Squat	Farmer’s Walk	Single Leg Standing Calf raise
Copenhagen Planks	Poliquin Step UpPeterson Sled Drag	Nordics/GHG	Negative Accentuated LegExt And Curl	Single Leg KB RDLSplit Squats	Sandbag or Zercher Carry or Magnusson Cross Carry	Seated Calf Raise
Goblet position Lateral Lunge	Single Leg Squat to Box	Reverse Hyper	Bosch Hamstring(Single Leg Iso Hold on Back Extension)	High Jumper’s  Step UpTRX Skater Squat	Waiter’s Walk	Mini Hurdle Hops
Side Plank with Leg Abduction	Banded TKE	Sliders in Bridge position	Asymmetric Loaded Deadlift And Squat variations	Single Leg Back Extension Single Leg Squat	Suitcase Carry	Towel Crunches
Banded Clams or Fire Hydrants	Kneeling to Step Up	Harrop Hamstring	Earthquake BarSquat variations	Single Leg Glute Bridge Lunge variations	Combo Waiter/Suitcase	Skipping

Coaching is in the Details

These movements need to be coached in great detail since they are often considered by players to be not as important as the “meat and potatoes” of the main event. I have often enlisted the assistance of the medical staff during these sessions to ensure that the players are selecting the best options for their injury and positional history. I also like to have another set of eyes on players during the performance of these vital movements. It is also an opportunity to show the playing group how well-aligned the medical and performance teams are in ensuring that the player's training is optimized.

In my last role, I delimited the categories and included a link to clips of the movements so that players can reinforce their technique, and also use it as an education tool, which is an ongoing and never-ending aspect of my coaching.

In gearing up for the next incarnation of this CARE program, I enlisted the assistance of the members of the NSCA’s Rugby Special Interest Group (SIG) to share with me their ideas on specific categories and exercises that they have used to good effect in their programming. From this, I decided to split the tables into upper and lower-body programming to ensure that I covered as many options as possible. While all of these options may not be made available to the playing group, I feel that it is essential to compile as many ideas from as many different sources as you can. Not only for the benefit of the playing group, but also to ensure you do not become myopic yourself and accept a limited number of options. This is definitely not a complete list, and if readers have any other ideas, please contact me to share your thoughts.

2024 Upper Body CARE Programming

Neck	Thoracic/Scapular/Traps	Rotator Cuff	Core	Asymmetric,Unstable,Iso And Ecc	Unilateral UB Push And Pull	GripAndElbow Integrity
Banded Look Away	Face Pulls	Incline Y, T, I’s	Rollouts	Asymmetric Press variations	One Arm DB Bench Press s/s DB Row	Bottom Up KB Hold
Neck Plankseries	Quadruped Reach And Rotate (Band)	Cuban Press	Hanging Leg Raises	Asymmetric Row variations	Seated DB One Arm Snatch s/s KB Z Press	Thick Bar Chins
Plate Extension And Flexion	Chinese Back Planks	Banded Victory Raise	Banded Janda Sit-Ups	Earthquake bar Press variations	Landmine Kroc Rows/s Javelin Press	Hammer Curl Rolling DB Extension
Banded Protraction And Retraction	Powell Raise	Supine 90/90 Overhead Y’s	Pallov Press	Ecc. Bench Press remove plates fast concentric	One Arm Seated Row s/sDB Shoulder Press	EZ Bar Curl Close Grip Bench
Wrestler’s Bridge Plank series	Shrug variations	Bottom Up KB Shoulder Press	Suitcase Deadlifts	Seated DB Snatch with 6” Eccentric Shoulder Press	One Arm Pulldown Half Kneeling Landmine Press	DB Twist Curl DB Tate Press
Swiss Ball Iso Bridges	Standing Snow Angels	Incline Liatsos Raise	Dead Bugs			Band Push Downs
	Band Pull Aparts	DB “L” Raise	Plank Variations			Captains of Crush Grippers
	Cuban Press	DB Scarecrow	½ Turkish Get Up			Plate Flip
	Scap Push on TRX		Windmills			Towel/Rope Chins
	Scap Shrugs on seated row

2024 Lower Body CARE Programming

Groin/Hips	Knee	Hamstring	Asymmetric, Unstable, Iso And Ecc	UnilateralHinge And Squat	Loaded Carry	Ankle/Foot
Monster Walk	Reverse Nordic	Pull Throughs	Natera Hamstring (Landmine RDL)	Kick Stand Split Stance RDL Sprinter’s Squat	Farmer’s Walk	Single Leg Standing Calf raise
Copenhagen Planks	Poliquin Step Up	Nordics	Negative Accentuated LegExt & Curl	Single Leg KB RDLSplit Squats	Sandbag Carry	Seated Calf Raise
Goblet position Lateral Lunge	Single Leg Squat to Box	Reverse Hyper	Bosch Hamstring(Single Leg Iso Hold on Back Extension)	High Jumper’s  Step UpTRX Skater Squat	Waiter’s Walk	Mini Hurdle Hops
Side Plank with Leg Abduction	Banded TKE	Sliders in Bridge position	Asymmetric Loaded Deadlift And Squat Variations	Single Leg Back Extension Single Leg Squat	Suitcase Carry	Towel Crunches
Banded Clams or Fire Hydrants	Kneeling to Step Up	Harrop Hamstring	Earthquake BarSquat Variations	Single Leg Glute BridgeLunge Variations	Combo Waiter/Suitcase	Skipping
Banded Hip Distractions	Peterson Sled Drag	3-position Leg Curls	Isometric Leg Ext End of Range Iso Hold		Magnusson Cross Carry	Ankle Inversion Eversion with band
High Hurdles Series		J Curls			Zercher Carry
Hip Lock variations		Glute Ham Raise or Inverse Leg Curl

The final stage of the CARE programming process is to sit with the player and the medical staff and develop three to four week blocks (which mimics my performance loading cycles) and develop specific plans for each player, based on the position they play and their individual injury history.

Player A, October CARE Program

2 x 8 – 12 (Upper) or 2 x 15 – 20 (Lower)

(Light weight, slow controlled movements)

Upper Body	Lower Body
Shoulder stability	Earthquake Bar Bradford Press	Groin	Copenhagen Planks
Thoracic	Face Pulls	Knee	Banded TKE
Rotator Cuff	Incline Y, T, I’s	Hamstrings	Sliders in Bridge Position
Core	Rollouts	Hip	Hip Lock March
Grip	Towel Chins	Loaded Carry	Zercher Carry
Elbow Integrity	Band Push Down’s (High Reps)	Ankle	Mini Hurdle Hops
Neck	Iso Front Bridge on Swiss Ball	Hamstring	Single Leg Iso Hold on Back Ext.